Talk show host Michael Berry alerted us to the upcoming event of the Harris County Democrat Party. One doesn’t have to be a dedicated pro-life activist to find the idea of this event kind of sick. I think even the majority of those who believe abortion services and clinics should be available would agree that an abortion clinic is the wrong venue for a Christmas Party.  (Yes, I realize they say “Holiday Party,” in the invitation below but for the vast majority of Americans, the holiday they celebrate in December is Christmas. Heck, the invitation even used green and red lettering, the traditional colors of Christmas.)

demwomenholidayparty

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From the Houston Chronicle:

Two Houston bike patrol officers subdued a gunman who was pointing and shooting a rifle in downtown’s Tranquillity Park near the Occupy Houston encampment late Monday afternoon, bringing moments of terror to an otherwise routine rush hour.

Despite hails of gunfire from both law enforcement and the rifle-waving man, no bystanders or officers were injured.

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Judicial Watch client Sergeant Joslyn Johnson, the widow of a fellow police officer gunned down by an illegal alien criminal, may finally get her day in court thanks to a landmark court victory!

On September 9, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Sergeant Johnson. The three-judge panel reversed a decision by the district court. Sgt. Johnson’s lawsuit against the city of Houston’s illegal sanctuary policy will now continue.

As noted by the appellate court, under the Houston Police Department’s (HPD) illegal alien sanctuary policy, “HPD officers are forbidden from notifying federal authorities that they have encountered a known illegal alien unless they arrest that person on a ‘separate criminal charge (other than a class C misdemeanor).’”

Moreover, Houston’s sanctuary policy also prevents police officers from obtaining immigration information from a number of federal government databases. (The policy only allows police officers to check the “wanted” status of an illegal alien from a single federal database that tracks illegal aliens who have been convicted and deported for “drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, or serious violent crimes.”)

As we argued in our September 21, 2009, lawsuit on behalf of Sergeant Johnson, Houston’s restrictive illegal alien sanctuary policies harm her ability to communicate with federal immigration officials:

Officer Johnson does not seek to detain or arrest persons in order to inquire about their immigration status…Rather plaintiff [Johnson] seeks to use her professional judgment to determine when it is appropriate to contact ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to inquire or provide information about a person’s immigration status if, in the course of carrying out her duties and responsibilities as a law enforcement officer, she has reason to believe a crime may have been committed.

To this point, Sergeant Johnson has not even been able to make this case in a court of law.

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Judicial Watch Director of Litigation Paul Orfanedes, along with Judicial Watch attorney Julie Axelrod, appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans last Wednesday on behalf Houston police sergeant Joslyn M. Johnson.

Houston, Texas, as you may recall, is a sanctuary city. And here’s the principal argument our client is trying to make in court, as described in our original complaint:

Sergeant Johnson challenges current policies, practices, and procedures of the Houston Police Department that substantially restrict, if not prohibit, Plaintiff from communicating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) about illegal aliens who are criminally present in the United States.

Plaintiff does not seek to detain or arrest persons in order to inquire about their immigration status. Rather, Plaintiffs seeks to use her professional judgment to determine when it is appropriate to contact ICE to inquire or provide information about a person’s immigration status if, in the course of carrying out her duties and responsibilities as a law enforcement officer, she has reason to believe a crime may have been committed.

Now I say Mrs. Johnson is “trying” to make these arguments because the lower court dismissed the lawsuit before the merits of the case could even be considered. (For more information on the “reason” for this dismissal, please read our latest court filing in the case.)

If Judicial Watch is successful at the appellate court level, the lawsuit would be remanded to the district court level again where Sgt. Johnson could make her case.

This sanctuary policy issue personally affects Sgt. Johnson. Not only because she serves in the Houston Police Department and sees the potential dangers of allowing illegal alien criminals to roam free, but because Mrs. Johnson is also the widow of former Houston police officer Rodney Johnson, who was murdered by an illegal alien during a routine traffic stop on September 21, 2006.

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Houston clearly has a problem.

Following a comprehensive, two-year-long investigation, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit in September 2009 against the City of Houston, the Houston Police Department and Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt on behalf of Houston Police Sergeant Joslyn M. Johnson. Sergeant Johnson is the widow of former Houston Police officer Rodney J. Johnson, killed in the line of duty by an illegal alien five years ago, on September 21, 2006.

This particular illegal alien, Juan Leonardo Quintero-Perez, had been previously deported and had numerous run-ins with the Houston Police Department. But because of Houston’s illegal alien sanctuary policy, he was allowed to roam the streets until he shot and killed Officer Johnson during a routine traffic stop. Sergeant Johnson argues Houston’s sanctuary policy not only killed her husband but also compromises her ability to enforce the law and uphold her oath as a police officer.

Well, now Judicial Watch has uncovered yet another massive scandal related to Houston’s illegal alien sanctuary policy.

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Patriots and activists from 23 states are about to gather together on March 25 and 26 in Houston, Texas to attend the True The Vote Summit, an effort to make “true” the electoral system in every polling place in the country, to stop voter fraud, and to quash the intimidation of voters. Organizers hope to make sure that we again have free and fair elections.

A local Harris County activist group named The The King Street Patriots built the True The Vote Summit upon their experiences of attempting to “true” the 2010 election in Harris County, Texas.

Back before the recent election, the KSP got together to try and find out what sort of shape the voting rolls were in Harris County, Texas were. What they found was shocking. Due to its investigation, an ACORN organizer was exposed for having registered over 23,000 fake voters in the county. The story made national news.

With that success under their belts the KSPers and their chief Catherine Engelbrecht decided to step it up a notch. And so, during the 2010 midterm election, the group set out to organize citizen poll watchers to monitor every polling place in Harris County. The goal was to make sure that what went on in each polling place followed the letter of the law, was free of cheating and fraud, and was open and welcoming for every voter.

Naturally the floodgates of hate were opened upon them. Leftist agitators let loose a smear campaign against these patriotic folks calling them haters, racists, and worse. The Black Panthers even came out in force to intimidate both the KSP and the voters they were observing.

The attacks on the True The Vote Summit have also continued unabated by the left today. So we know how the left is worried about this movement. Vote fraud is almost exclusively practiced by Democrats and left-wing activists in this country, so an effort like this threatens their operations.

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The Houston chapter of the New Black Panther Party has announced that it will be sending members to the polls in Harris County on Tuesday, November 2nd.  The mobilization has caused some concern for members of the King Street Patriots, a group of citizens who have been monitoring polls in Harris County.  The group claims they have been the victims of harassment from County election workers and members of the Democrat Party.  They believe the Black Panthers have one goal: intimidate their members.

The paramilitary organization came under fire in 2008 after Election Journal broke the videoof King Samir Shabaz and Jerry Jackson  intimidating voters with a nightstick outside of a poll in Philadelphia.  But that may pale in comparison to the Houston chapter, which appears to have an arsenal of assault weapons. In the video below, shot in June 2000, the Houston Black Panthers marched on the Texas Republican convention with “machine guns.”

Further raising tensions,  several months ago Shabaz, now the National Field Director of the group, surfaced in a video calling for members to “kill crackers and their babies.” It is unknown if Shabaz plans to be in Houston.

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Nationwide, government at every level is requiring more and more of the workforce to get its permission just to earn a living.

In the 1950s, only about 5 percent of the workforce needed a government license to do their job. Today, that number is over 30 percent.  And governments impose all kinds of other requirements that make it hard for would-be entrepreneurs to start and grow small businesses.

Entrepreneurs like Chuck, here:

Unemployment in the United States has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 straight months—the longest stretch since the Great Depression.  Nearly 14.8 million people were unemployed last month.

Consider the nation’s capital.

Year after year, Washington, D.C., is ranked the worst place in the United States to start a small business. How can the District change its ways to allow entrepreneurs to create more jobs and opportunity?

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What happens when a group of everyday citizens does their part to alert the authorities to potential vote fraud? Apparently, Democrat drone media is unleashed to crush the effort. Check out this Houston, Texas ABC affiliate, Channel 13 News, report claiming leaders of King Street Patriots “may serve jail time,” quoting the Democrat Party as their source:

King Street Patriots is the organization that launched True the Vote, an initiative to encourage citizens to help improve elections by reviewing voter rolls and volunteering to work at the polls. Their honest intentions were met with coordinated lawsuits and an ethics complaint filing by Soros funded Leftist groups Texans Together and Texans for Public Justice, as well as the Texas Democrat Party. The ABC/Channel 13 report is only the most recent example of the mindless media coverage of King Street’s efforts, including ambush interviews of poll watchers inside of polling places.

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As cited by Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit,  Hans A. von Spakovsky of Heritage, writing at Pajamas Media, points out just some of what a grassroots group of concerned citizens has turned up regarding potential voter registration issues in Houston, Texas.

True the Vote reports that at least four noncitizens have been registered to vote in Harris County. The group provided Justice with the actual voter registration forms where applicants marked “NO” to the question: “Are you a U.S. Citizen?” The group also provided the voter registration numbers of these confessed noncitizens. Yes, astonishingly, Harris County registered them to vote anyway. They are now on the rolls and able to participate in the upcoming midterm elections.

There are multiple aspects to this developing story, which may drive some discussion on addressing voting irregularities across the country after November, if not to some extent before the 2nd. Melissa Clouthier of Liberty Pundits has been blogging on the group and on October 22nd posted on an instance where Sheila Jackson Lee appears to have been in violation of election laws.

Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Houston) violated election laws when, on Tuesday, October 19 [corrected: date was wrongly noted as the 18th], she entered into Acres Home Multiservice Community Center, walked to where the voting booths were looking for the poll watchers, greeted voters there, and then found and confronted the poll watchers before being directed to, and then asked by, the presiding judge Bernard Gurski to leave the area.

Additionally, the video tape below purports to show Lee electioneering directly outside a Palm Center polling location. The video is believed to have been made at approximately 4 PM on October 22nd, allegedly placing Lee well inside of a 100 foot limit allowed by law as early voting was going on.

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After World War II, Cleveland was booming, thanks to its leadership role in heavy industry and a business-friendly climate. Today, the city’s high taxes and onerous regulatory demands make it nearly impossible for new businesses to set up shop while choking the life out of existing companies. While relatively laissez-faire cities such as Houston are growing even during the current recession, Cleveland remains stuck in a rut. How can city officials make the city a more welcoming place for entrepreneurs to thrive?

Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey is written and produced by Paul Feine; camera and editing by Roger Richards and Alex Manning; narrated by Nick Gillespie; music by the Cleveland band Cats on Holiday.

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From The Oklahoman:

A Republican state legislator released documents Tuesday which he says show the community-organizing group ACORN focused on helping Democrats in three legislative races in the November 2008 election and had developed a game plan to “take power” in Oklahoma within five years.

The documents, which include legislative district maps and various forms, were recovered from computers abandoned by ACORN workers in Oklahoma City, said Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City. Also found was a script apparently used in Houston to go door-to-door to encourage voters to vote for Barack Obama in November 2008.

“They say they’re not political, but one of the subdirectories was called political action plans,” Reynolds said. “It was their political plans to take over key targeted races in Oklahoma City to show how powerful they are.”

Read the whole thing here. Oh, and be sure to check Big Government often in the coming days for LOTS more on this story…